


Shockingly

by King_of_Clubs



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mute Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-08-27 08:15:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16698760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/King_of_Clubs/pseuds/King_of_Clubs
Summary: The Galra took Lance and was gone for nine months,  and he's changed... a lot.





	1. Chapter 1

Lance hadn’t said anything since coming back from his time in the Galra’s hold. He’d merely shrug, nod, shake his head, and point. He had only been back for three weeks before anyone mentioned him not speaking.

“Lance, you know you can just talk right?”

“Yeah, Pidge is right. It’s getting kinda creepy,” Keith agreed with the small paladin. “Lance went from never shutting up to completely silent.”

The boy just shrugged as he plopped down on the couch, no noise leaving the Red Paladin once again.

“Don’t force him to talk. We don’t know what happened to him while he was missing.”

Pidge scoffed, “He’s Lance. He will just bounce back within a few days!“ At the scowl Hunk sent her and the hurt expression on Lance’s face, she wavered. "If he doesn’t…” concern filled her. She didn’t want to think about that, so she grasped at the first thing that came to mind, "That can hurt Voltron right?”

“Yeah, how are we supposed to talk with him to find out if he’s safe if he can’t speak?” Keith demanded. “I am the leader now, I’m the pilot of the Black Lion, I need to make sure that everyone is safe and can’t bring danger to us! He could put us in danger!”

“It’s not your place! Anyway… Lance, I found a way you could talk,” Hunk takes out his tablet. “We all have a stylus! So I thought, why not let you write it all?”

Lance smiled weakly, mouthing a thank you.

“No problem buddy.”

“Hunk! You’re just going to let him not speak? Are you serious?” Keith crossed his arms. “You can’t possibly believe we can go on like this? Lance needs to grow a pair and speak! Shiro didn’t act like this! And what Lance went through was probably nothing compared to the entire year Shiro had to endure!”

“What if they took his vocal cords?” Hunk snaps back at Keith. “You have no idea what he went through. You have no idea. He was gone for so long, and my best friend is broken. So let me repeat that, what if they took his vocal cords?”

“No. I’ve seen him making small sounds. If they took them he wouldn’t be able to make noises, period.”

Lance hiccuped, quickly covering his mouth before he ran out of the room. He’s crying. He’s crying! He’s crying! He can’t, _he can’t, **he can’t!**_

He sat on his bed, trying to suppress the cries. It’s not there, _it’s not there, **it’s not there.**_ He tried to not make any sounds and failing. That only made the tears fall faster. He finally gave in and let out the pent-up tears fall. Once they finally stopped, he went into the bathroom to splash some water on his face. His eyes were drawn to the thin scar that ran around his throat. The sight of it made him dissolve into heavy sobs.

The sight of the scar forced the reality of what he went through back to the forefront of his mind. The pain of the shocks. Rolvik’s laugher. The taunting that he would be no use to Voltron. The promise that Rolvik would find him, that Lance could never truly escape him. The promise of far more pain.

Coughs started to rack through Lance’s body. As he fell to the floor the phantom pulse of a shock overwhelming him. He grabbed at his neck as if he was trying to pull something off. Realizing that it wasn’t there, he began to panic. He felt it, _he felt it, **he felt it**_ **.** He needed to let someone know! Someone needed to know what truly happened. He couldn’t keep this up. Everything was threatening to overwhelm him, like a bottle about to shatter, everything flowing out into a huge mess.

Staring at himself in the mirror, he had ‘practiced’ mouthing word for word what he wanted to say, occasionally letting a few sounds come out. Not much, but the sounds were still there. After trying three or four times he realized that he would not be able to say everything. He had to start simply.

Hunk would understand. He would also be able to help. He wanted to tell Hunk about the collar, Staring at himself in the mirror he mouthed the words ‘they made me wear a collar.’ That caused him to almost started crying again. He settled on ‘Hunk,’ ‘yeah,’ ‘no,’ ‘I love you,’ ‘I’m sorry,’ and ‘thank you.’ Once he managed to somehow say all those words, he was in front of Hunk’s door, knocking.

 

“Lance?” Hunk opened the door, staring down the Cuban, trying to figure out what he needed. “What’s up, man?”

 

He gave a small wave, and pointed inside Hunk’s room, a small smile on his face. He wa determined to tell Hunk what had happened.

“Wait, do you need something?” Hunk cocked his head but Lance shook his. “Do you wanna come in?” Hunk smiled, stepping out of the way as Lance nodded.

The boy looked around before sitting in a chair. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to say everything he wanted, but maybe he could write it. Realizing he forgot his tablet, he looked at Hunk and made a writing motion with his hands.

“Uh, I have my tablet somewhere. Ah! Yes! Here you go,” Hunk handed Lance the stylus and the tablet. “Lance, did you want to… want to talk?”

He nodded, writing down ‘I wanted to talk with you. With vocals.’

“You can still talk?”Hunk sounded so confused by this, he thought Rolvik destroyed Lance’s vocal cords.

Lance took a deep breath, readying himself. “Yeah,” his voice shook. He shouldn’t have spoken. Why did he speak? Tears threatened to fall down his face, simply because he said a single word. He was pathetic. He gripped the stylus tightly, reminding himself not to cry before he starts writing. ‘It’s something mental, not physical. I just can’t bring myself to speak.’

Hunk looked at Lance with pity in his eyes. “Lance… what… what happened? I didn’t want to…” Hunk cut himself off once he saw Lance writing.  
‘They tried to get me to talk about the whereabouts of Voltron. When they realized I wasn’t going to talk, they…’ he couldn’t finish writing the sentence as a sob wracked through his body. He bit his lip, his hand covering his mouth against the hiccups, that he had desperately tried, and failed, to keep from seeping through.

“Oh buddy,” Hunk saged softly as he hugged Lance. “They thought if they couldn’t make you talk, you shouldn’t talk at all?”

“Yeah,” Lance choked up cursing himself for speaking again. He just wanted to be normal again, loud and obnoxious Lance, but even a letting out a whisper scare him.

“What did they do?”

‘Any time I made a sound whatsoever, they’d shock me. And depending on how loud or how long the sound was, changed the shock’s power,’ Lance quickly wrote down.

“The voltage?” Hunk asked, fear and pity showing in his eyes.

Once again Lance nodded, he looked up at the ceiling, pointing at a scar. ‘It’s from the collar shocking me for… How long was I missing? It kinda all blurred together.’

“Six and a half months.”

Lance looks down at the floor. ‘The scar is from having the collar for six months,’ the boy keeps his gaze on the floor as Hunk reads it. Just do it, just like he practiced. “I love you,” he cried into his best friend’s shoulder, he tried to say more but he can’t. He wants to but he can’t.

“You’re my best friend Lance, I love you too.”

~~~

Lance spent the night with Hunk but didn’t say anything else while he was with him.

“Lance, do you want food goop or the breakfast that Hunk has made for us? I think it’s supposed to be pancakes and bacon.”

The boy looked at Keith, pointing at the breakfast Hunk made. He smiled at it. Hunk was always the best cook. Better than his own mother, but Lance would never say that to her face.

 

“Lance you’ve been back for a few weeks now, why won’t you say anything, we’re—”

“Drop it Pidge,” Hunk glanced at the youngest of all of them. “We don’t know what happened, he doesn’t have to speak if he doesn’t want to. We’ve been over this.”

“I’m sorry, Hunk! I am worried about my friend, you and I have been over this too! He’s obviously hurting and I just want Lance back! I want his stupid annoying jokes! Now he’s just quiet and I… I miss it.”

Lance rubbed his arm with his hand looking down. He grabs his own tablet and stylus. ‘Hunk you can tell them what happened. I just told you so you could tell them.’

“Are you sure?”

The boy nodded giving Hunk his okay once again.

“Okay, so Lance came into my room last night… we talked. He told me that basically if they couldn’t make him talk, they’d make sure he wouldn’t talk again.”

“What? How?” Pidge stood up, making her chair fall to the ground.

“Remember that collar thing we found on him? How loud, or how long, whatever he said was, he’d… he’d be shocked with a voltage to match that.”

Pidge looked over at Lance. “What didn’t you tell Hunk?”

Lance sighed, he remembers when he would sigh and freak out progress. Progress. ‘I don’t know if I’d ever speak fully again. Whenever I say something I just wait for the shock. I sometimes even feel a phantom shock.’

“Did they damage your vocal cords?” Pidge asked softly.

‘I don’t know. I should probably ask Coran.’

“Coran! Hey!” Pidge yelled, the redhead man slides into the room.

“Yes, paladin?” He looked around, and once he sees Lance writing something, he walks over to the Cuban.

 

‘I wanted you to do a scan of my vocal cords?’

“Hmmm. Alrighty, Lance. Meet me in the medbay after breakfast, I’ve been meaning to give you a checkup anyway.”

 

Lance smiled and gave a thumbs up, Coran went back to doing whatever he was doing.

“So, you said you can still talk, right?” Pidge asked.

 

‘I wrote it, I didn’t say it.’

“Details, details! Why haven’t you though?”

The Cuban stared at his tablet, unable to respond, so he looked at the green paladin and shrugged. He glanced at Hunk, telling him with his eyes to change the subject.

“Okay! So, Keith’s back, how was the blade of Marmora?”

“I’ll be back in a few days.”

Lance turned his tablet to Keith. ‘He asked how was it, not when you’re going back.’

The Korean shrugged. “It’s fine I guess. The training is difficult and the missions are hard… also, Lance, you write really fast, yet still neat?”

The boy just sat proudly, smiling. At least Keith had said one nice thing to him since he came back.

They all finish up breakfast afterward and Lance goes to the Medbay, accompanied by Hunk. Lance taps on Hunk’s shoulder, holding himself and shaking.

“Are you cold or are you scared?”

Lance held up two fingers, shaking his head. He hugged Hunk tightly.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’ll be fine, and if you aren’t, Coran will fix you up.”

Lance nodded softly.

 

“Alright number three, take off your jacket,” Coran hummed. “I think you call them zippers? As well as the buttons might change the scans.”

Lance nods, taking off his jacket and sitting on the examination table.

“Look up for me.” Coran asked softly, “can I touch your neck?” and once Lance gave him the thumbs up, he gently touched the boy’s neck. “No outer damage, can you speak for a second? I need to scan your vocal cords in use vs still.”

 

The Cuban grabbed his tablet. ‘Can I just hum? I think that will be easier than saying something.’

“Of course my boy,” he pulls up a scanner to Lance’s throat.

Lance sighed, letting out a soft, broken hum. It cut off at random points like he was still scared of letting out any noise. A few tears start falling down his face.

“It’s okay my boy, you can stop now. There’s no damage that I can see,” the redhead says comforting Lance.

‘So there’s no reason for me not to be speaking?’

Both Hunk and Coran sigh after reading the words. “No, no, no, that’s not it Lance,” Hunk said. “My boy, no,” Coran said at the same time.

‘Why?’

“Lance, you… you can’t just… why?”

‘Shiro was forced to fight, yet he still does. He had everything take from him.’

“Are you really going to let that get you? You aren’t Shiro, you’re Lance. Look, I don’t care if you never speak again, or if it’s only from time to time. No matter what, I’m still going to be your best friend.”

Lance nodded, hugging Hunk.

~~

They had gone home. They fought the Galra. They found his family. Yet a single word could not be said. He hadn’t been able to talk much to his family one on one, and anytime he was alone with Veronica, he just acted like he was too focused on the mission.

“Lance? Hunk?” Veronica, one of Lance’s sisters, ran over to the duo.

“Veronica! What’s up?” Hunk smiled and waved, Lance does the same but says nothing.

The girl looked at her brother before saying in a soft voice, “I haven’t seen you in years, Lance…” she rubbed away the tears that were welling in her eyes.

 

Lance smiled at his sister, he then tapped Hunk’s shoulder, making a writing motion with his hands.

“Oh. Uh, I think I left my tablet in Yellow. Did you leave your’s in Red?”

Lance nodded. He points at Veronica, then at his neck, and lastly Hunk.

Veronica stared at the two, confused. “Why isn’t Lance speaking? What’s he doing?”

 

“Can I tell her Lance? Is that what you’re asking?”

 

The boy quickly nodded, smiling with two thumbs up.

 

“So, I don’t know, maybe three months in, Lance got captured. He was gone for six and a half months. During that time, they tried to make him talk. Once they realized he wouldn’t, they gave him this, Uh, collar thing. It basically shocked him making any sounds, talking etc. Depending on how loud or long what he said, the voltage would change. After we got him back, he just hasn’t talked. I get why.”

“Oh, Lance,” she hugged her brother tightly. “I love you so much, I’m so sorry that happened.”

 

Lance just smiles returning the hug. “Te amo…”

Veronica glanced at Hunk.

“He can still speak. He just prefers not to, or something… I don’t know. I’ve just learned most of the time he’s completely silent, he’ll sometimes speak. The most I’ve ever heard him say was, ‘I love you.’ That’s it though.”

 

Lance smiles and shrugged. He held up a finger pointing Keith’s jacket, then pointing his thumb behind him.

“You’re going to get Keith?”

 

Lance quickly shook his head, he made a writing motion with his hand, pointing at Keith’s jacket, then moved his arms like he’s running.

“Does it have something to do with Keith? No?”

“Red,” Lance said the broken word softly, making a writing motion.

“Uhhh?”

Veronica groaned. “Oh my god Hunk, he wants to get his writing-thingy from the Red Lion.”

“Oh! His tablet and stylus. Sorry man, you know I was awful at charades.”

 

Lance just smiled and shook his head, basically telling Hunk not to worry. He headed off to the hangars, but before he walked to his lion he heard footsteps.

He took a deep breath, and with all his might, he had managed to say, “Who are you?” his voice still broken and cracked. He still hated speaking.

“So he does speak, I thought we did our job. I guess we didn’t. Maybe we’ll… we’ll just have to fix that.”

 

That voice… that’s the Galra that imprisoned him… Rolvik. He backed up against Red hand over his mouth. How did he find Voltron?

 

“So you do remember me. That’s wonderful, you had left before the real fun began.”

The Cuban let out a squeak, sliding down. Just ask him how he got in here, just ask, just ask!

“Where’s your collar little one? You’re supposed to be quiet. Did they take it off of you? You know I don’t like it when you make noise.”

 

He nodded at the Galran, he couldn’t argue. He can’t speak. That’s not allowed.

 

“Ah, well I have something to solve that,” he took out a smaller collar than the one he had before. “It can only be taken off by my command, and…”

Before Lance realized it, Rolvik lunged forward at him and the collar was placed around his throat.

“And it’s more sensitive now,” he laughed wickedly. Lance knew not to cry out, but agony was ripping through his soul at the torture device once again attached to him. Hopelessness filled him and he sank to the ground, unable to express his feelings.


	2. Chapter 2

The boy just stood there, staring at Rolvik, tears welling in his eyes. He hiccups, then hissing after the shock went off twice. 

“There will be no pain if you just stay quiet, Little One.”

Lance shook his head. “No,” he said weakly before falling to the floor from the shock, tears falling down his face as he stared at the man if he could even call him that. He was scared, and when Lance is scared, he puts himself in danger.

“You aren't supposed to speak unless I tell you too. You know this, pet,” Rolvik growled, pulling Lance close. “You left before the real fun could start, well, it would be fun for me, not you. Why don’t we go ahead and get you—”

The boy tried to run out of the room, Rolvik wanted to.. he wanted to, Lance got out of his thoughts as he started to fall to the floor from being shocked. That... that was new. 

“Little One, not only does sound control it, I do,” he held up a remote control. “You can’t run away this time.”

“Lance?! What’s taking you so long?” Hunk yelled through the hallway, his voice seemingly getting louder.

“I’m fine!” Rolvik yelled, mimicking Lance’s voice. While Rolvik was mostly Galra there were other parts to him, one such part must have given him his vocal mimicry.

Lance laughed, he rarely talked, let alone yelled, afterward he hissed at the shocks that followed his laughs. Footsteps echoed as Hunk ran in, gasping at who he saw. The yellow paladin quickly got his bayard, shooting Rolvik and grabbing Lance. 

“Little One, come back here right now!”

The boy covered his ears, not wanting to listen to Rolvik’s words. Hunk shot the Galra once again, killing him that time.

“Lance, Lance, are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

Lance shook his head, shrugged, and then looked up. He pointed at his neck shrugging.

“This is different from last time. Go grab your tablet and meet me in the lab, okay?”

He nodded, quickly running to grab his tablet and stylus, then running to the lab where not only Hunk and Pidge were, but so was his mom.

“Leandro,” she cried, hugging her boy. He smiled, hugging her back.

Pidge quickly intervened. “Lance, you have your tablet? I’m going to need to ask you some questions so Hunk and I can get this off. Or at least turn it off so we can safely remove it.”

The boy waved his tablet in the air, sitting down. He then grabbed his stylus to show her.

“Rolvik did this to him,“ Hunk sighed.

“I thought he died?”

“Who else would make a collar that would shock someone when they made any noise?!” Hunk snapped.

“Point taken. Lance, did he say anything?”

The boy quickly wrote something down, ‘He said it was more sensitive and that he had a remote to control it.’

“A remote control?”

‘After, he told me I left before the real fun would begin, at least fun for him. I ran. I knew what he meant. Yet, he still shocked me, and shoved the control in my face.’ 

His mother cringed as she read that. “Who is this Rolo-Vic?”

“It’s Rolvik, and he’s the one that kidnapped Lance, and the reason Lance is...”

“Mute,” Pidge finished Hunk’s sentence. 

“Right. Mrs. García, you don’t have to stay in here if you don’t want to.”

Lance quickly shook his head, pointing at his mother then at himself, he kept doing the motion over and over trying to get his point across.

“Just use your tablet.”

If Lance didn’t have the collar, he most definitely would have groaned at Hunk. ‘I want my mama to stay in here with me. If that’s okay with her, of course.’

“Leandro, of course, I’ll stay with you,” she bent down to his level, hand on his knee.

He smiled before hissing, hands up to his collar.

Pidge stared at him. “We gotta find the remote control, someone’s using it… or…”

“You go get it, I’ll stay here with Lance.”

Lance hissed again, pulling his knees up to his chest.

His mother, heartbroken, asked, “Why isn’t the hissing from the shock setting off another one?”

“The last one was the same way, I don’t know. The other one was set off by coughing and even snoring. It was set off by vocal cords moving... Lance?”

The boy was crying, grabbing at the collar. Sobs were being let out and that, of course, brought on shocks.

“Lance, Lance, calm down. It’s okay, it’s okay.”

“It... hurts...” Lance cried harder as the words only brought bigger shocks. He wanted to laugh at his stupidity for talking. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t.

“Lance, come on. You know you can’t... come on buddy, please. You’re hurting yourself more.”

“Leandro, escucha a Hunk, por favor.”

The boy nodded covering his mouth trying to stop his tears or at least the noise.

“I got it! So, Lance, I— did he?”

“He started crying, the sobbing made the shocks worse. He’s okay now, right Lance?”

The boy nodded, wiping his tears.

“I promise to be careful, but I might accidentally hit the button on the remote,” Pidge said softly.

Once again, Lance nodded, sitting there with his knees up to his chest. He was so angry he allowed this to happen again. How? He’d never learn to speak again with this. Last time it took the team a few days to remove the collar and this one is more advanced. He had let himself become so weak again.

“There’s nothing to turn it off,” Pidge said softly. “I don’t know if I can get it off.”

“Lance?”

The boy grabs his tablet, writing, ‘He told me only he could remove it.’

“Only Rolvik could remove it, and it requires body heat… The Galra— 

“Keith!” Both Pidge and Hunk say in unison.

“Mrs. García? Will you go find Keith, the Black Paladin, please?”

The woman nodded and headed off to go find him.

“Keith’s half Galra, so, in theory, he should be able to open it?” 

“Lance, Buddy, do you think that would work?”

The boy sat there for a moment before nodding. That will probably work. Dear god, he hopes it works.

“Guys? What did you need?”

Hunk gasped in relief. “Keith, Galra Keith, uh. Rolvik came back, and we... just put your thumb here,” Hunk points to a pad.

Keith hesitantly put his thumb up to the pad, jumping back at the shock that traveled through his body. Lance held his collar trying to get it to stop.

“No! No!” Pidge groaned.

“Keith, take Lance’s mom out of here, please,” Hunk looked over at the man.

“I’ll leave myself, just please, help my boy.”

Pidge nodded. “We will try Mrs. García.”

“Fuck, ow, Lance how can you stand to have that much voltage on your neck? Damn that hurt just my thumb! Ow…”

‘That wasn’t much of a shock. It just startled me,’ he turned it around, erasing it and writing, ‘I have a scar on my neck for a reason, Keith.’

The other two in the room flinch after hearing Keith read it out loud. The way Keith reacted meant the shock was strong and Lance said it was barely anything.

“Wait. Cosmo, find Krolia,” Keith bend down to his wolf who — barks? — and disappears, starting to look for Keith’s mom.

Hunk narrowed his eyes. “Why Krolia?”

“She’s full Galra, I was thinking since I’m only half it may not— gah! Cosmo!”

The wolf appears with Korila, wagging his tail. 

“Uh, what did you need Keith?”

“Just, put your thumb here, and please be careful? I think a full Garla is what we need to get this thing off of Lance.”

She shrugged, placing her thumb against the collar, gasping, pulling her hand back. 

Lance’s hands flew up to his neck, tears streaming down his face. That was stronger than any of the other shocks he’s had before, and it hurts, it burns. He bit his tongue to stop himself from making any noise. That would just make it worse.

“Shit, shit, I don’t... I don’t know if the shock is from our second try, or because of Krolia, but if it gets any higher, it could kill him. Fuck, he’s already bleeding.”

Lance shook his head, he knows what it is, but it wouldn’t stop hurting. “Rolvik,” he said rather keenly, only before he hissed.

“Lance, try and go to sleep, alright? We will figure this out.”

The boy nodded, putting his finger over his nose, much like he did when he’d imitate Shiro, then pointing at Hunk.

“Snore strips? Yeah, I got ‘em. Let’s go to Red? Or do you wanna sleep in the dorm?”

Lance thought for a second, then spelling out ‘R-E-D’ in sign language, Hunk has taught him how to fingerspell in ASL as well as other things so he can speak without the tablet.

“Okay, Lance, I’m coming with you. Rolvik is still… well, he’s dead…”

He hummed softly, hissing at the shock. That one was new. He made a mental note and got up. The walk to the Red Lion was silent.

When they get to the hangar, Lance tried his best not to look at Rolvik as he climbed in his lion. “Alright, here—”

Lance pulled Hunk up onto the platform, smiling to show he wanted Hunk to stay with him. 

“Alright, alright. Where're the cots?”

The boy got up and hit a button that let two cots fall down. He grabbed pillows and blankets, throwing them at Hunk.

“Lance!” he laughed pushing the fluffy blanket from his face. “Come here, I’ll do the snore strip,” he muttered, placing the snore strip onto the Cuban’s nose when he walked over. “Same rules apply. If something is bothering you, tell me. Okay? Just like I’ll tell you.”

The boy nodded, taking his place on the cot, and tucking himself in.  
~~  
Lance found himself sitting in a chair, the soft purple lights barely allowed him to see. He looked around, and the door opened.

“Hello, Little One, ready to talk?”

The boy said nothing and did nothing but stare at the Galran. 

“Well, if that is how it is, here you go,” the Galran says, clicking a collar onto Lance’s throat. “Anything that requires your vocal cords... hmm... well you can see what happens.”

“What the—” he gasped, trying to grab at his neck, starting to cry. It burned. 

“Don’t you like it! Since you didn’t talk, I’m gonna make sure you never talk again, my pet, we’re going to have so much fun!”

“That makes no— oh god!” He gasped, trying to pull the collar off, crying harshly. 

“Don’t worry Little One, I’ll have you begging for me without verbal use, you’ll be begging for me to make you feel good without saying a single word. You’ll be my little pet and I will be your master,” he ran his hand down Lance’s leg. “We’ll have so much fun.”  
~~  
Lance jumped out of the cot and started pacing, tears flowing down his face as he begged Red to get Yellow to wake up Hunk. He couldn’t knock himself out of his pacing trance and needed Hunk to wake up.

“Buddy?”

Lance nodded and fell back onto his cot.

“What’s wrong? Yellow was yelling at me to wake up. Red made him, what’s up?”

The Cuban pointed at his collar, holding up the number one, then pointed through the window where Rolvik was before the Garrison took him up.

“The first time with your collar? I thought you said you didn’t remember it.”

He quickly grabbed his tablet and wrote very slowly, ‘He was going to make me his sex slave.’

“Did… did he ever?”

Lance shook his head. ‘The only time I ever had his hands on me was for the collars and then his hand ran down my leg,’ he showed Hunk, ‘At least from what I can remember.’

Hunk hugged Lance tightly. “I’m just glad you’re okay. Lance, when you were gone, I was so scared. I thought I would lose my best friend, and when we found you, you were just so small, curled up, not saying anything.”

Lance didn’t move, his eyes still ahead and still in a stiff motion as Hunk hugged him.

“I didn’t even think for a second about how you changed, if at all, and I just… I just got my friend back.”

The Cuban wrote something quickly after pushing off Hunk. ‘you’re repeating yourself, big guy.’

“Sorry,” Hunk smiled weakly. “I just missed you.”

Lance smiled back, before hissing and holding his neck.

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s wrong?”

The boy tried to wrap his fingers and pull off the collar as it continuously shocked him. He started letting out small sobs as it shocked him.

“Lance, hey, hey, calm down. Look at me, you’re making it worse. It’s okay, we’ll fix it,” Hunk said softly. He wrapped his arm around Lance, quickly picking him up, knowing the boy wouldn’t move. He takes the boy to the lab and calls Pidge. “The same thing as last time is happening. Hurry.”

The Cuban whimpered instead of his normal hiss, catching Hunk’s attention.

“Hey, hey, that’s only gonna make it worse.”

“Shut up,” he cried out, “make it stop,” he then silently screamed from the words. 

Pidge skidded to a halt in the lab, still in her pajamas like the boys. “Shit, shit, shit, where is it, where is it! Ah!” she grabbed a remote and pressed it, suddenly stopping the shocks from the collar. “I’m surprised that worked on this one,” she sighed.

“How are we supposed to get this thing off?” Hunk asked.

“Honestly... I don’t know. Let’s just… cut it off.”

“Pidge, if it’s like the last one, that will hurt him more.”

“He’s already hurting! Just get rid of the damn this so we can have the Lance that makes random noises instead of jokes! I just want that damn thing off!”

“Lance, do you—”

The boy nodded profusely, he just wanted that thing off, he didn’t care how. He just wanted it off.

“Alright, will my bayard work? Or—” Pidge stopped when she saw that Lance had grabbed him and formed a sword. Rather than asking, Hunk simply took it with Lance’s hands still on it so the sword would not deactivate. The collar started sparking, shocking the boy as he slammed his hand on the table several times before the thing finally came off.

“Holy shit, Lance that’s… that’s bad.”

“Call Coran down, now. That’s… this was a bad idea. That burned you, fuck, Lance, you’re bleeding, pretty badly.”

The boy went up to touch his neck and hissed immediately. He looked at Hunk with sad eyes, saying everything Hunk needed to know. 

“Hey, you can talk now.”

“I… I know,” Lance said quietly, his voice a bit scratchy as if he was testing himself. 

“Good. Now, does your neck hurt?”

Lance hummed softly, nodding. 

“Ah! Number two, number three, hello! I was called?”

“Number four,” Lance pointed at himself.

Coran saw the boy and sighed. “Nope. I don’t change the nicknames. You need me to patch up your neck?”

Lance looked away and nodded softly. 

“How much does it hurt from a scale of one to ten?”

“Eight...nine,” he muttered out softly.

Coran smiled, cleaning out the wound. “Better than last time, huh? Do you want me to wrap it?”

Lance put a thumbs up as Coran started wrapping gauze around the areas. “There. Now, don’t talk or move your mouth too much, because it may fall off. You, humans, have odd medical supplies.”

‘Yeah, we do. I got used to’ Lance stopped signing, looking intensely at Coran, putting his fingers under his eyes.

“Altean?”

The boy gave a thumbs up, ‘medicine, I’m surprised I find ours so odd now.’

“That’s how it works, you get used to something to the point where when things… go back to normal it’s weird… Lance?”

The boy shook his head, ‘Sorry, I got lost in thought,’ he went back to writing on his tablet. ‘Will things ever go back to normal?’

“What do you mean, Lance?”

‘I mean will I ever be able to be normal again?’

“I believe you can get better, Lance, but there is no such thing as normal. We will help you get there… I promise.”

“Thank you, Coran…”


End file.
